The Ruffian

“It is a sunny Sunday in June and I am sitting in a Porsche with a man I recently matched with on Bumble, two Spanish sighthounds, an intersex DJ and Curtis Yarvin. “Let’s go Team Fascist!” shouts my match as he pulls away from the grand Georgian terrace in Pimlico where Yarvin has spent the morning chatting about Austrian economics with 86-year-old crossbench peer and Keynes biographer Lord Skidelsky.”This is how Jemima Kelly’s recent Financial Times longread opens and it only gets crazier after that. The last time Jemima came on the show she talked about her visit to Mar-a-Lago, court of the then ex-president, Donald Trump. After reading her entertaining account of a garden party thrown by the UK branch of the Very Online Right, in honour of Curtis Yarvin (J.D. Vance’s pet intellectual), I knew had to have her back. Jemima is a brilliant storyteller and a shrewd judge of character. In this conversation she offers an eye-popping account of the party along with acute insight into the nature of this increasingly influential political movement.In Part Two, which will be released shortly, for paid subscribers only, I ask Jemima what it’s like to report stories in which she’s surrounded by weird people with unsavoury views. How does she get them to reveal so much to her, while maintaining her integrity? Don’t miss this one! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.ian-leslie.com/subscribe

In this episode of The Ruffian’s podcast we ask whether the price of using increasingly smart machines is increasingly stupid humans. My guest is Daisy Christodoulou, director of education at No More Marking, and my favourite thinker on learning and education.Daisy recently wrote a Substack post asking whether we live in a ‘stupidogenic society’ - just as it’s said that we live in an ‘obesogenic environment’ - one that tends to cause stupidity. She argues that our use of technology to substitute for cognitive skills has got to the point where human intelligence is in decline, a claim she supports with evidence. Daisy is no Luddite. She works for an edtech company. She acknowledges that modern technologies are incredibly useful, indeed indispensable. But she’s interested in the trade-offs we’re making between utility and intelligence, and in what the optimal point might be. She also gives her view on how schools should adapt to this environment.I hope you enjoy our excellent, somewhat intelligent conversation, which is available on all the usual podcast platforms. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.ian-leslie.com/subscribe

Britain is in a depression. Not an economic one - we're still growing, albeit slowly - but a cultural and political one. We are running low on optimism, self-esteem and, most dangerously, on hope - on the sense that we can fix things.Voters have become deeply cynical about the political class; support for both main parties has collapsed. They’re turning to Reform, not necessarily because they believe Nigel Farage will fix anything, but because he captures the almost nihilistic mood. How can Britain get out of this moment? To put it another way, how can it get happy again? Broadly speaking, there are two paths out of here, which in reality have to be travelled at the same time. The first is economic growth. But higher growth won't come unless we make progress down a second path - a cultural and psychological one. We need people to believe that they can improve things - improve their lives, their communities, their country. One way of putting this is that we need a more “high agency” culture. That's what I'm going to discuss with returning guest James Kanagasooriam, chief research officer at FocalData. James is a pollster, and one of the most brilliant political and cultural analysts around. He’s just completed a major research project on agency among British voters. Agency is a concept that’s become popular in Silicon Valley (James credits Cate Hall, the poker player, businesswoman and writer, for shaping his thinking on it). It’s essentially about believing you can make things happen. James has created a way to measure it at scale, and the results are fascinating. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.ian-leslie.com/subscribe

In this engaging discussion, Max Bennett, author of *A Brief History of Intelligence* and former AI entrepreneur, shares his insights on the evolution of human intelligence. He dives into the differences in learning between humans and AIs, emphasizing the vital role of reinforcement learning. Bennett explores how imagination arose from the neocortex and its impact on future planning. He also contrasts the curiosity of humans with the more passive nature of large language models, shedding light on how language enhances collaboration and learning.

Helen Thompson, a political economy professor at Cambridge University, discusses Britain's looming fiscal crisis. She reveals the reasons for the urgent economic concerns and predicts potentially drastic changes ahead. The conversation highlights the complexities of current monetary policies and their historical parallels, particularly how past crises can inform future decisions. Thompson warns that the government's attempts to avert disaster may ultimately be futile, pushing Britain toward a necessary recalibration of its economic priorities.

Are our new AI overlords tools intelligent in the same way humans are? Is an AI agent truly, well agentic? Does it have a mind of its own, so to speak? Might it just decide to destroy us? Or is this completely the wrong way to think about it?In this episode I get into these questions with Professor Alison Gopnik, professor of psychology and affiliate professor of philosophy at UC Berkeley, where she's also a member of the AI Research Group.As many of you will know, Alison is a brilliant and profound thinker on cognition, innovation, and learning. She bridges the worlds of developmental psychology, philosophy, and technology. Her superb books on the science of childhood learning were a big influence on my own book about curiosity..I invited Alison on to discuss a recent paper she co-authored which argues that AI is not an ‘agent’ but a ‘cultural technology’ like the library or the printing press - just the latest in our long history of finding new ways to organise and transmit human information at scale. We discuss that and much else besides. This was so much fun to record. Alison gives us a scintillating and witty tour of her thinking about thinking; human and machine. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.ian-leslie.com/subscribe

Jasmine Sun, a tech journalist and thinker from San Francisco, shares her insights on how AI is reshaping writing and journalism. She discusses the irreplaceable qualities of human creativity and voice that AI can't replicate. Jasmine reflects on her transition from tech at Substack to freelance journalism, emphasizing the evolving landscape of the field. The conversation also delves into the risks of losing authenticity when relying on machine-generated content, and the importance of maintaining a personal style amidst digital distractions.

James Marriott, a Times columnist and Substack writer, dives into the provocative question of whether AI tools like ChatGPT could threaten the future of human writers. He shares fascinating insights from his own experiments with AI-generated poetry and literary criticism. The discussion highlights AI’s impressive mimicry of style while addressing its limitations in genuine depth and emotion. Marriott emphasizes the irreplaceable value of personal expression in writing, raising critical thoughts about authorship and the evolving landscape of literature.

In this episode of The Ruffian’s podcast we discuss what is possibly the single most important event in human history: the Industrial Revolution. If you look at all the economic data before (very roughly) 1780-1840, you see flat lines. Afterwards, everything starts going up, and continually. It's not just GDP - human welfare is transformed. Human became much more numerous and at the same time much richer, longer lived, and healthier.The Industrial Revolution wasn't just about coal and steel and factories. More fundamentally, it was the moment we learned how to continually get more value out of the same or fewer resources. The discovery of productivity growth transformed the human condition.But there are big unsolved questions about the origins of this transformation. Why did it happen at that time and not earlier? Even more puzzlingly, why did it happen first in Britain, and not, say, France, or the Netherlands, or China? Historians have debated these questions for decades. Some point to material factors like the price of labour and natural resources; others think that culture was more important. My guest leans toward the latter explanation, although as you’ll see, he has his own particular take on it.Anton Howes is an historian of innovation who is currently writing a book on the Industrial Revolution's origins based on his deep research into the leading inventors and entrepreneurs of the era. He has a popular Substack called The Age of Invention in which he shares some of the amazing stories he has uncovered. I’m delighted to have him on the show.This is part one of our conversation, in which we discuss Anton’s idea of “the improving mentality”, the mindset that he sees as underpinning the Industrial Revolution, and why it became widespread in Britain first of all. In part two, for paid subscribers only, we discuss why most of the action took place in the north of England rather than in London.Enjoy! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.ian-leslie.com/subscribe

In this engaging conversation, James Marriott, a columnist for The Times known for his insights on British culture, explores the intricacies of the British elites. He dives into themes from the book *Born To Rule*, discussing how today's elites blend traditional status symbols with cultural relatability. The conversation examines the evolving landscape of elitism, highlighting how art reflects elite politics and moral signaling. Marriott also critiques the rise of 'woke' ideologies as status symbols among younger elites, shedding light on the intersection of wealth, culture, and identity.